Performance Evaluation of Adaptive MIMO
Switching in Long Term Evolution
Muhammad Usman Sheikh1, Rafał Jagusz1,2 , Jukka Lempiäinen1
1
Department of Communication Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
2
West Pomeranian University of Technology Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Szczecin, Poland
Muhammad.Sheikh@tut.fi, Rafal.Jagusz@tut.fi, Jukka.Lempiainen@tut.fi
Abstract— In a race towards 4G technologies, future cellular
network like Long Term Evolution (LTE) is competing with high
data rates and improved spectrum efficiency. The target of this
paper is to evaluate performance of Adaptive MIMO Switching
(AMS) in LTE in terms of cell throughput and throughput gain
with respect to other antenna configuration. The impact of
different intersite distance on the performance of AMS was also
investigated in this paper. The assessment was based on
simulations using analytical channel model. Kronecker channel
model without any Channel State Information (CSI) at
transmitter was used for the simulation purposes. Adaptive
MIMO switching works on the principle of switching among
transmit diversity, receive diversity, and spatial multiplexing in
accordance to SINR level. Simulation results reveal that
significant improvement in cell throughput can be achieved by
applying AMS technique. However, utilization of standard
MIMO transmission techniques also improves channel capacity.
Keywords— Adaptive modulation and coding, Adaptive
MIMO switching, Long term evolution, Channel capacity
I. INTRODUCTION
Cellular networks with Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO)
systems offer limited channel capacity. Nowadays, interactive
services are able to produce sufficient network traffic to create
bottlenecks at radio interface. Multi Input Multi Output
(MIMO) stands for multiple number of antennas at transmitter
and receiving side. In transmit diversity multiple antennas are
used at transmitting side; in receive diversity multiple
antennas are used at receiver side. Transmit and receive
diversity helps in improving the signal to interference noise
ratio, but it does not directly improves the throughput [1].
Spatial multiplexing is another form of MIMO system, in
which independent data stream are sent on each transmit
antenna, roughly doubling the throughput.
LTE system is categorized as an evolved cellular network
and MIMO is important feature of LTE system. LTE uses
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in
downlink and Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple
Access (SC-FDMA) in uplink direction [2]. Mentioned access
schemes can significantly improve spectral efficiency, but
multiple antenna transmission further improves the spectral
efficiency. LTE can be considered as a system with high
spectral efficiency as a result of flexible radio interface [3].
In this paper MIMO transmission modes can be
distinguished as transmit diversity with single receiving
978-1-4244-9538-2/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
antenna (TD), receive diversity using Maximum Ratio
Combining (MRC), and spatial multiplexing (SM) with equal
number of multiple antennas at transmitting and receiving side.
Transmit diversity is a basic MIMO setup, where each antenna
is transmitting the same copy of data [2]. In MRC, the signals
from the independent channel are combined at the receiver.
Each branch signal is multiplied by weight factor such that
branch with strong signal is further amplified, while weak
signals are attenuated to provide better SINR. Third case is of
SM, it means that each antenna is transmitting independent
and different data stream. With SM data rates can be improved
with higher efficiency comparing with TD and MRC [2].
This paper provides comparison between different
transmission modes with different modulation and coding
schemes. Emphasis was given on finding the average cell
throughput in LTE, with different transmission modes.
Performance of AMS with different intersite distance was
investigated. Aim of this paper was to highlight the gain
achieved by AMS. Research work of this paper was carried
out by performing simulations in MATLAB environment.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II
deals with LTE system features. In section III, detail about
Shannon capacity, channel model along with channel capacity
is presented. Description of simulation environment and
simulation parameters is given in section IV. Section V is
about simulation results and their analysis. Finally section VI
concludes the paper.
II. LTE SYSTEM FEATURES
In this section, brief description of adaptive modulation and
coding schemes, multiple antenna configuration, LTE physical
layer, and adaptive MIMO switching is presented.
A. LTE Physical Layer
Essential improvement introduced in LTE system are new
system access techniques i.e. OFDMA and SC-FDMA
adopted in downlink and uplink directions, in reference to
prior cellular system. It supports different bandwidth ranging
from 1.25MHz to 20MHz, while sub-carrier spacing of 15 kHz
remains constant [2]. Flexible bandwidth deployment made
LTE system an attractive choice for the operators. Radio
resources are being assigned to users dynamically which leads
to higher flexibility.
 Radio resources are allocated in reference to user demand.
Resource block is considered as grid in time and frequency
domain. Smallest data unit which can be allocated to a single
user is a pair of resource block. Resource Block (RB) consists
of 12 consecutive subcarriers in frequency domain for half ms
in time domain. The transmission time interval (TTI) is one
ms for LTE. There is parallel transmission of data with
multiple subcarriers in downlink direction [3], [4].
In uplink transmission, as mentioned previously, SC-FDMA
is used. This approach sustains low level of Peak to Average
Power Ratio (PAPR) [4]. MU-MIMO transmission can be
used in uplink direction as virtual multiple antenna
transmission.
B. Adaptive Modulation and Channel Coding Rate
The data rate is adjusted by changing the modulation
scheme and the channel coding rate. The process of adjusting
the modulation scheme and coding rate is adaptive to
instantaneous channel condition. Modulation and coding
schemes used in LTE system have direct impact on the
amount of transmitted data. Straightforward way to provide
high data rates over band limited system is to use high order
modulation. In downlink direction three main modulation
schemes are in use: QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM with certain
channel coding rate. In uplink direction 64QAM is supported
by only category V user equipment [2]. Coding rate shows the
amount of bits used for channel coding purpose. Lower order
modulation scheme e.g. QPSK is more robust to the errors
comparing with higher order modulation schemes. Therefore,
higher order modulation such as 64QAM can be employed
only when the channel conditions are good and have high
signal to interference noise ratio. Modulation and coding
schemes with their respected spectral efficiency used for the
simulation purpose of this paper are presented in Table I.
TABLE I. MODULATION AND CHANNEL CODING RATE
Modulation Channel Coding Spectral
Scheme Rate Efficiency [bps/Hz]
QPSK 1/3 0.67
QPSK 1/2 1.0
QPSK 2/3 1.33
QAM16 1/2 2.0
QAM16 2/3 2.67
QAM16 5/6 3.33
QAM64 2/3 4.0
QAM64 5/6 5.0
transmitting antenna is known as Single Input Multiple Output
(SIMO) system [1]. Transmission with multiple antennas on
transmitting end and single antenna at receiving end is known
as Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) system, which is an
example of transmit diversity [1]. Interference between the
antennas can be significantly reduced by applying spatial
separation between antennas. Spatial separation between the
antennas may decrease the correlation factor between the
received signals coming from different antennas. In this paper,
MIMO system with the same number of antennas on each
transmitting and receiving side are considered as MIMO with
spatial multiplexing (SM).
D. Adaptive MIMO Switching
To cope with increasing user demand of throughput,
additional advanced antenna techniques are required from
cellular systems. Adaptive MIMO switching (AMS) is a
scheme of switching among different antenna transmission
mode to maximize the user throughput with improved
coverage and quality of service (QoS) [4]. In radio
environment, channel conditions are continuously changing,
transmission mode is selected by switching from diversity to
spatial multiplexing or vice versa to provide maximum
throughput. The target of AMS is to efficiently utilize the
radio resources, maximizing the spectral efficiency. When the
user experiences high signal to interference noise ratio e.g.
near the eNodeB, spatial multiplexing is used and diversity
techniques are used for the users at cell edge or with low
SINR value. SINR threshold value for switching between the
transmission modes depends upon the throughput [4].
III. CHANNEL CAPACITY
This section deals with capacity formulation for different
antenna transmission modes.
A. Shannon Capacity
Shannon’s capacity mathematical formula presented in
equation (1) is the basis for the research work of this paper.
Shannon capacity theorem defines the theoretical upper bound
for the maximum rate of data transfer considering white
Gaussian noise. It states that channel capacity is proportional
to the bandwidth
, and a logarithmic function of signal to
noise power ratio . It also shows that data rates are limited
by the noise power [6].
 
 

  (1)
C. Multiple Antenna Configurations
Adaptive modulation and coding schemes, reduced
transmission time interval (TTI) and advanced medium access
technique helps in improving the spectral efficiency of LTE
system. Still, spectral efficiency of the system can be further
improved by multi antenna technique (MIMO). Previously
advanced reception and transmission diversity techniques
were implemented in UMTS. Reception diversity with single
If we consider bandwidth equals to 1 Hz, then equation (1)
gives us the spectral efficiency of the channel as bits per
second per hertz (bps/Hz). Shannon provided upper bound for
capacity with respect to additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN) however practical channels differ much from the
characteristics of AWGN channel. Shannon’s formula needs
to be reconsidered for Rayleigh fading channel. Actual
capacity of network is always less than Shannon capacity [6].
B. Kronecker Channel Model '(
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,00/121  3  
 !" #
 +,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,4
Kronecker channel model is analytical channel model and
belongs to the family of random channel matrix model. This
model is applied to radio channels where Channel State
Information (CSI) is not known at the transmission side.
Propagation mechanism in the Kronecker model considers
signal scatters located in the vicinity of transmitter and
receiver [5]. Rayleigh fading is often used to model the non
line of sight (NLOS) channel assuming scatters near the
transmitter and receiver. Channel matrix is modelled by the
Kronecker product of transmit and receive covariance matrix.
MIMO channel can be modelled by Kronecker as given in
equation (2) [5].
 
3  )
From equation (4) it can be seen that MISO system does
not offer any increase in capacity, because there is no diversity
at the receiver. At one time only one data pipe is active, and
transmission power is equally divided among all transmit
antennas [7]. However, MRC helps in improving the SINR
which practically increases channel capacity as seen in
equation (5). Equation (6) shows that ideally capacity can be
doubled compare to SISO system by increasing 3 dB
transmission power in case of 2 transmit and receive antennas.
In equation (6), 3 is the number of transmit and receive
antennas [7].
        (2) IV. SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT AND SIMULATION
PARAMETERS
In equation (2),  and  are the transmit and receive MATLAB was used as simulation tool for performing
covariance matrices respectively,   performs the transpose
operation of matrix.  is a random fading MIMO channel
matrix whose entries are independent and identically
distributed (i.i.d). Each entry has Gaussian distribution with
zero mean and unit variance. Kronecker model is inaccurate
compare to Weichselberger model but simpler regarding
computation [5].
C. Channel Capacity for Transmission Modes
In random matrix models all the factors affecting the input
output relationship of the MIMO system are put together in
random matrix . Factors like fading, interference between
transmit and receive antennas, constructive and destructive
interference caused by physical obstacles are taken into
account while modelling the channel. Without CSI at
transmitter, assuming equal power at all transmitting antennas,
MIMO channel capacity can be given by the equation (3)
'(
simulations for the research work of this paper. Impact of
different antenna transmission modes over the throughput of
LTE system with different intersite distance was analyzed.
These simulations were done with seven sites, with three cells
on each site. Single site was interfered by six other sites. Users
with full traffic buffer were assumed i.e. they always have
data to transmit. Every user tries to get as much throughput as
possible. Cell resources were equally divided among all active
users in cell, leaving no unused resources at any TTI.
Therefore cell loading of 100% was assumed along with 100%
other cell loading in neighboring cells. Number of users
supported in any TTI was fixed, and users were homogenously
distributed over the cell area. Location of users was random,
with flat distribution over the coverage area of the cell.
COST231 Hata model was used as radio propagation model
for calculating the path loss between the user and the eNodeB.
Only modulation and coding schemes presented in Table I
were assumed for simulation purpose. General parameters of
       
 !" #$%&  (( * +,,-
 )  LTE used for the simulation are presented in Table II.

In equation (3),  represents capacity of general MIMO

TABLE II. GENERAL LTE SIMULATION PARAMETERS

channel when CSI is unknown at the transmitter. Total Parameter Unit Value
average energy at the transmitter side is denoted by '( , and it Downlink
is equally divided among all transmit antennas.  and  Area type Urban
represents number of transmission and receive antennas Operating frequency band MHz 2600
respectively.  represents random channel matrix where * Bandwidth MHz 20
is Hermitian’s transposition of matrix H. $%& refers to Carrier spacing kHz 15
identity matrix, whereas (( stands for covariance matrix at Total resource block (RB) No. 100
transmitter. Average Gaussian noise power is expressed by )  . Transmission power dBm 43
Assuming perfect flat channel, with unity covariance matrix Antenna gain dBi 18
and total transmission power is equally divided among all Antenna height m 25
transmit antennas, equation (3) can be transformed for Cyclic prefix Normal
different transmission mode as [7] Number of users per TTI No. 5
Cell loading % 100
'( UE noise figure dB 8
../  0./  
 !" #  + (4)
)
Data activity factor 1
'(  
.0/  
 !" #  + (5)
)
 V. SIMULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS and receive antennas (MIMO2x2), relative throughput gain
In Fig.1 required SINR value against spectral efficiency does not improve by 100% with respect to SISO system. Only
per antenna for different antenna configuration is shown. For 20% gain was observed by adopting spatial multiplexing for
more than one antenna at transmit side, same modulation and MIMO2x2 with 1000m intersite distance. With AMS2x2 and
AMS4x4 relative gain of 50% and 75% can be achieved
coding scheme was assumed for all antennas. SIMO and
respectively at 1000m intersite distance. It was found that
MISO are providing receive and transmit diversity
AMS performs better with large intersite distance
respectively. MIMO2x2 and MIMO4x4 are working on the
principle of spatial multiplexing. It can be seen that SIMO 55
SISO
system performs best in low SINR condition among all other 50 MISO
antenna configurations. MISO system performs very similar to SIMO
45
SISO system as total transmission power was divided between MIMO2x2
MIMO4x4

Average throughput [Mbps]

the transmit antennas; therefore advantage of channel gain is 40
AMS2x2
not significant. MIMO 4x4 has highest SINR requirement and 35 AMS4x4

works well in good SINR condition. In adaptive MIMO

30
switching, different antenna configuration is selected on the
25
basis of achieved maximum throughput.
20
5
nt = 1 , nr = 1 15
4.5 nt = 2 , nr = 1
10
nt = 1 , nr = 2
4 nt = 2 , nr = 2
Spectral Efficiency per Antenna

5
nt = 4 , nr = 4 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
3.5 Intersite distance [m]

3
Fig.2. Average throughput of cell against ISD for different transmission
mode
2.5
140
2 MISO
120 SIMO
1.5 MIMO2x2
MIMO4x4
100
1 AMS2x2
AMS4x4
Throughput Gain [%]

80
0.5
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
SINR [dB]
60
Fig.1. Required SINR for different MCS with different transmission modes
40

In Fig.2 average cell throughput against intersite distance

20
for different antenna configuration is shown. It can be seen
that the average cell throughput achieved by using AMS is 0
better than average cell throughput by any individual antenna
configuration. In Fig.2 AMS2x2 considers adaptive MIMO -20
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
switching with maximum two antennas at transmitting and Intersite distance [m]

receiving side, with AMS4x4 maximum of 4 transmit and Fig.3. Relative throughput gain against ISD for different transmission
receive antennas were considered. Average cell throughput mode
achieved by SIMO system was found similar to MIMO2x2,
while keeping the total transmission power fixed and constant Fig.4 shows the cumulative distribution functions (CDF) of
in both cases. In Fig.2 highest cell throughput was achieved cell throughput for different intersite distances, achieved by
with lowest intersite distance. By analyzing the results using adaptive MIMO switching (AMS) with maximum two
presented in Fig.2 it was found that by increasing the intersite antennas at transmitting and receiving side in LTE system.
distance average cell throughput is decreased. There is high probability of no data transfer with large
In Fig.3 relative throughput gain for different antenna intersite distance, because of limited transmission power at
configurations against intersite distance is shown. Relative eNodeB for downlink direction. Better results are achieved
throughput gain with respect to single input and single output with smaller intersite distance. Probability of having cell
(SISO) system is plotted in Fig.3. It was found that although throughput above 50Mbps is 34%, 23%, 9.5% and 1.5% with
average cell throughput achieved by AMS decreases with 1000m, 2000m, 3000m and 4500m correspondingly. Mean
increasing intersite distance as shown in Fig.2, but relative value of cell throughput with AMS for different intersite
throughput gain increases with increasing intersite distance. It
distance can be seen from Fig.4
can be seen by adopting spatial multiplexing with two transmit
 1 1

0.9 ISD = 1000 0.9

ISD = 2000
0.8 ISD = 3000 0.8 ISD = 1000
ISD = 4500 ISD = 2000
0.7 0.7 ISD = 3000
ISD = 4500
0.6 0.6
CDF

CDF
0.5 0.5

0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Cell Throughput [Mbps] Cell Throughput [Mbps]

Fig.4. CDF plot of AMS 2x2 throughput for different ISD Fig.5. CDF plot of AMS 4x4 throughput for different ISD

Fig.5 shows the cumulative distribution functions (CDF) of
cell throughput for different intersite distances, achieved by
using adaptive MIMO switching (AMS) with maximum four
antennas at transmitting and receiving side in LTE system. By
comparing results presented in Fig.4 and Fig.5 it was found
that upper part of CDF curves of throughput with different
intersite distances shifts to right in Fig.5, which shows
enhanced throughput results with AMS4x4 compare to
AMS2x2. Performance of AMS4x4 is similar to AMS2x2 in
low SINR condition, actual throughput gain from AMS4x4 is
attain in good SINR condition.
1 switching. Significant improvement in cell throughput was
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
CDF
MIMO switching. Probability of having cell throughput above
30Mbps is 57% with MIMO4x4, whereas probability of
having cell throughput above 30Mbps is 86% with adaptive
MIMO switching. Similarly, probability of having throughput
above 70Mbps is only 12%, 5.5%, and 20%with MIMO4x4,
AMS2x2 and AMS4x4 respectively.
VI. CONCLUSION
Adaptive modulation and coding scheme along with
multiple antennas transmission improves spectral efficiency,
but the analysis of results shows that average cell throughput
can be further enhanced by adopting adaptive MIMO
observed with AMS. It was found that average cell
throughput decreases but the relative throughput gain
SISO
MISO
achieved by AMS increases with the increase in intersite
SIMO distance. A noticeable gain was observed by AMS in small
MIMO2x2 cells as well as in large cells. AMS efficiently utilizes the
MIMO4x4
radio resources, and improves the overall spectral efficiency

0.5 AMS2x2
AMS4x4 of LTE system.
0.4

0.3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
0.2
Authors would like to thank Tampere University of
Technology, Finland and European Communications
0.1 Engineering Ltd for supporting this research work.
0
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